Injury prevention is at the forefront of everybody’s mind especially after the high number of injuries to the Detroit Lions defense in 2024. One actionable way to prevent injuries is to try to limit the number caused by friendly fire – teammates hitting each other.
The main preventable, friendly fire collision occurs when the ballcarrier is already wrapped up and another defender comes crashing in to lay a big hit. Those kinds of hits often end up inadvertently landing big blows to a defensive (and defenseless) teammate. Over the decades of watching football, I have noticed more awareness amongst defensive players of avoiding unnecessary late hits to an already wrapped-up ballcarrier.
There is certainly a lot of gray area when it comes to defining what is an unnecessary hit, so it’s not fair to lay total blame to players for any of the resulting injuries. Things happen fast on the field, and it’s not always clear when a ballcarrier is wrapped up and secured.
The other side of the coin is that players have faced scrutiny and criticism for not rushing into the action when a ballcarrier unexpectedly breaks free. It’s important to realize that avoiding friendly fire can sometimes be unfairly labelled as passivity or a “business decision” on video.
I reviewed the season of injuries to the defense and compiled the injury videos of Lions players colliding with each other. Some of these collisions are simply fluky collisions that I would not put in the category of friendly fire, but the videos are here so you can decide for yourself.
Amik Robertson
Left humerus fracture – Being the last game of the season, he did not miss any future games. Likely he would have missed at least 8 weeks otherwise.
Amik Robertson L elbow/arm injury video
-Deformity of L upper arm area. Concern for humerus fracture. pic.twitter.com/QvlwlzlLxE— Jimmy Liao MD | Detroit Lions Morning Rounds (@JimmyLiaoMD) January 19, 2025
Alex Anzalone
Concussion – Missed one game. A quick, late juke by Baker Mayfield led to this friendly fire collision.
Alex Anzalone concussion video. Brutal helmet shot into right jaw. pic.twitter.com/exl3YHsQjf
— Jimmy Liao MD | Detroit Lions Morning Rounds (@JimmyLiaoMD) September 15, 2024
Left forearm fracture – Missed 6 games. On video, you can see that Anzalone did not have the runner wrapped up at all. Branch and Anzalone make contact with the runner almost simultaneously.
Alex Anzalone L forearm fracture injury video
-Slomo zoom…
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